Existing mobile plans associated with International Mobile Subscriber Identities (IMSIs) heavily penalize users who exceed their package limitations, for example, network over usage fees. Penalties also exist for those who frequently operate on other carrier networks identified by their IMSI, that is, roaming. While North American carriers are offering several unlimited data plans, for example Verizon's 4G LTE™, these carriers have begun terminating such plans. With Voice over LTE (VoLTE), billing voice minutes on these networks no longer apply in the traditional sense, and data billing, services, and “over usage fees” will now dominate wireless financials.
Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) strategies revolve around a fixed contact point which fans out to desk, mobile and other numbers. This fixed contact point can be associated with a corporate contact such as a Direct Inward Dialing (DID) number. Similar systems and methods exist for the reverse direction allowing calls, or optionally user selected calls, to be placed from these numbers so that they appear to originate from the corporate identity.
All accounts are associated to a user device by some means. A commonly used method is Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, or equivalent, depending on the cellular service, for example, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM™), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), etc. SIM cards securely store a service-subscriber key, such as an IMSI, to identify a subscriber of mobile telephony devices. Embedded programmable SIM cards are coming into focus as a means for remote activation of devices and other uses. A task force was recently created on Nov. 17, 2010 with the goal of releasing standards for embedded programmable SIMs by 2012.
For now, however, to overcome the challenges of roaming and overuse charges, a user can carry multiple devices containing a SIM card with accounts local to specific countries. If the mobile device is a GSM™ device, or if both countries support the same cellular standard, multiple SIM cards can be used to insure local use charges, that is, SIM swapping. Sharing mobile devices or SIM cards between employees can reduce costs but requires reprogramming of a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) FMC solution to address the move of the mobile number to another employee. Removable programmable SIM cards exist today but require the use of a hardware reader/programmer to complete the task. Often, this is manually intensive.
A company known as TRU uses an eight-in-one programmable SIM to eliminate SIM swapping. This requires that the card be pre-programmed, using a physical SIM programmer, with the user accounts. The TRU solution allows up to eight accounts, which can correspond to eight different countries. A client application by TRU uses the location information to select the desired preprogrammed entry from the pre-programmed SIM card. This solution, however, requires that all travelers have their own multiple accounts. It is not integrated with any FMC solution and is not intended to reduce the number of accounts required by a company. Other software applications exist to track data, such as voice and Short Message Service (SMS) usage, and can set thresholds to alert the user to alter their behavior to avoid overuse charges. This can be enforced by corporate mobile management software solution.
A need exists for programmable SIM cards operating within a mobile number pool and methods thereof that overcome those issues described above. These, as well as other related advantages, will be described in the present disclosure.